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“All we know for sure is that our customers love the 12-cylinder and hate diesel. Take that to the bank!” So declares Richard Carter, the most excellently British (even though he’s South African) head of global Rolls-Royce PR. See, Rolls-Royce has a problem. Every vehicle it manufactures has a twin-turbo 12-cylinder engine that — let’s face it — is about as green as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Hummer. Not the bio-diesel one. And it’s not that Rolls-Royce cares about being green. It doesn’t. No, its problem is that its customers love their Rolls-Royces. In fact, they love their Rollers so much that 2010 was a record sales year, with 2,711 cars sold, an increase of 171 percent compared with 2009.

Why, then, am I and two other American journalists seated in a conference room at the posh, modern Rolls-Royce factory in Goodwood, Sussex, UK, eagerly waiting to drive the new battery-powered Phantom? “It would be a little disingenuous for us to claim that we suddenly developed a green conscious,” says Carter. The reason the stunning Atlantic Chrome painted 102EX, aka the Phantom Experimental Electric, has a 1452-pound battery pack where the 6.75-liter twin-turbo V-12 once sat is because Rolls-Royce is concerned about the future. Specifically, its future.

“Rolls-Royce has been around for 106 years. How do you guarantee another 106?” Carter asks. To wit, Rolls-Royce would be happy to continue selling gigantically refined (and let’s face it, boisterously gas-guzzling) internal combustion-powered land yachts to its “rather unique customer base” forever. But due to forces beyond the automaker’s control — legislative, peak oil, or even (gasp) social acceptance — the cars may “one day have to be something other than 12-cylinders and two turbochargers.”

The 102EX, then, is something of a pure experiment. It is an engineering proposal, built to show existing customers what a future Rolls might be like. And Rolls is taking the 102EX on a world tour starting in May for six months to show off exactly that. Again, let’s be clear: This car is little more than an experiment. So much so that the engineers were futzing around with the 102EX’s software the morning we showed up.

It’s built with “off the shelf” parts from a range of suppliers and a little consultancy expertise from parent company BMW. (There was also a little help from Lotus, but we’re not supposed to talk about that.) According to Rolls, it was finished less than a week before the car’s debut at Geneva. As of right now, there are no plans to build an actual electric Phantom. However, if a business case can be made, a car could be ready in “about two years.” Still, Rolls-Royce stressed that it is not building the 102EX. “It’s just a test bed — we’re not saying the 102EX represents perfection.” And by dint of omission, Mr. Carter is saying that the regular Phantom does represent exactly that. No comment on the Ghost.

The 102EX’s gargantuan battery pack, which consists of 96 lithium-ion pouch cells, is the largest yet fit to a passenger car. The 71-kilowatt-hour battery pack feeds the two 145-kW motors that reside on the rear axle. One happy accident of such a layout is that there’s no driveshaft (or “prop-shaft” in Brit-speak) and as a result the rear floor is completely flat. Flat, and in this case, lined with leather. Honestly, this is how all Phantoms should, ahem, roll. The power and twist figures are on par with the regular Phantom, which makes 453 stately horsepower but just 531 pound-feet of torque. That’s because while the 102EX somehow gets by with only 390 ponies (the combined output of the two electric motors), it twists its rear half-shafts with a pretty massive 589 lb-ft.

And how does it drive? Splendidly. Dare I say it, the 102EX it a better driver’s car than the conventional twin-turbo V-12 Phantom. A couple of reasons why. First, the car is better balanced. The battery pack and motors bop the weight up to 2.7 tons from a starting point of — don’t laugh — 2.5 tons. Do you notice the extra 400 pounds? In a word, no. Four hundred pounds in a Phantom is like having an extra Russian oligarch in the back seat, plus his date for the evening. Not only that, but the weight distribution is improved to 50/50, so the 102EX feels more balanced than the petrol car.

In a drag race, the “normal” Roller would cook the electric version’s beef Wellington. Zero to 60 happens in just under 6 seconds for the gas-powered car, and Rolls-Royce estimates the Phantom Experimental Electric requires about 8 seconds to hit 60 mph before being software limited to a top speed of 100 mph. However, to get the gasoline car to go that fast, you really need to bury your right foot. Talk about undignified! Furthermore, when you’re on the 102EX’s go pedal, the torquier electric motors propel the blue leviathan faster with less effort on your foot’s part. Er, your chauffeur’s foot’s part. Less is certainly more, no? Besides, think about the brand’s characteristics. Smoothness, silence, the all-important waftability (are you listening, Cadillac?), and to quote our boss and British subject Angus MacKenzie, “Mountains of low-end torque.” An electric power train amplifies all of that.

Speaking of luxury vis-a-vis the art of driving, these regenerative brakes are things of beauty. Essentially, when you lift your right foot from the throttle, the regens grab hold, scrub off a bit of speed, and send some power back to the battery. This effectively creates a dead man’s pedal, whereas lifting feels like engine-braking. I argue that having to use but one pedal is more luxurious than two. It’s exactly like how needing only two pedals (think automatic transmission) is much preferred in certain high-roller circles than three (standard, manual transmission). Remember, back before World War II, vehicles like the Rolls competitor Hispano-Suiza J12 came with 11.3-liter V-12 engines not because speed was desirable — cars like the ostentatious J12 were open-topped and totally devoid of aerodynamics, let alone working windscreens — but because an engine potent enough to start from a stop in top gear was considered a mark of luxury. Less work (i.e. clutching and shifting) equals more lux. Going forward, I see the dead man’s pedal effect being the same sort of indulgence.

The Electric Experimental Rolls-Royce provides two levels of brake regeneration. The first is D, and it’s active when you turn the car on. It’s noticeable, but hardly affects anything. There’s a small button labeled simply “L” on the steering wheel that activates Low mode, an odd way of saying that the brake regeneration has increased. Take your foot off the “gas” in low and the big Roller begins to slow as if you’d downshifted. The Chevy Volt offers the same sort of thing, albeit to even greater effect, when it’s in Low. Both of my American colleagues (and I) liked the regenerative braking but wished there were more of it. Interestingly, Rolls PR informed us that the British auto scribes who drove the 102EX before us absolutely hated the feature. Of course this is the same lot who brag about needing to apply a “dab of oppo” when they push a Volkswagen Sharan beyond its limit, so a grain of salt (preferably pink Himalayan salt) is in order.

Moreover, there are no gears here. Meaning that as smooth and creamy as the regular Phantom’s ZF six-speed is — and believe you me, it is — the 102EX moves about liked clotted cream on four wheels. And it is so damn quiet. Now that the car is effectively not only rear-engined, but free from the tiny explosions of 12 cylinders and all the associated exhaust rumble, Rolls engineers admitted they weren’t prepared for just how quiet the Experimental Electric would be. For instance, you can actually hear the vents open when the climate control starts up. Also, for the first time in modern memory, tire noise is an issue in a Rolls-Royce. Perhaps even more sound-deadening is in order. What a world we live in.

The downside? Well, beyond cost (the 102EX as is would retail for several million dollars if Rolls were to build it), the big issue is of course range, and the anxiety caused by a lack thereof. Rolls-Royce estimates that the Phantom Experimental Electric is good for 200 kilometers — about 125 miles — and we think that’s being generous. Rolls will have a very difficult job making a business case for a car that will sell for Phantom money (or more) and is so limited range-wise. But Rolls is quick to point out that the 102EX is just one possible alternative power solution. Obviously, the obloquy diesel is off the table. However, Rolls is open to things like a range-extended electric (though the idea of a puny three- or four-cylinder engine under a Roller’s bonnet is essentially heresy — Rolls-Royce prefers the idea of a gas turbine) or, infrastructure willing, a hydrogen fuel cell. The latter probably makes the most sense, as the two electric motors on the 102EX meet the brand’s definition of “adequate,” and then some. Why not stick with ’em?

As it sits, you need to block out 8 hours to charge the massive battery using 220-volt, three-phase charging. While you can plug the 102EX into a socket (how gauche!), a better solution more in line with the brand’s image is its nifty, wireless induction charging. Long story short, there’s a big plate on the bottom of the 102EX and you just roll it over another plate buried in your garage floor and charging commences. Just like an electric shaver. Neat, huh?

And here’s the range truth, Ruth. Most Phantom owners drive their car 1000 to 2000 miles a year on average. Rolls-Royce doesn’t like admitting this, but it’s true. Think about that for a moment. Where are you going to go in Singapore? Hong Kong? Central London? Manhattan? Even if you’re popping up to the Hamptons for the weekend, 100 miles is plenty of range, assuming that you have a charger at your Amagansett summer house for your return trip. And since you’re filthy rich enough to afford a Phantom, you do.

If it should come to pass (or even, when) that Rolls-Royce will have to give its ueber-wealthy clientele something besides a monster piston-powered machine, the 102EX shows that all is not lost. In fact, with the reduction of loud, hot, and smelly moving parts, something is gained. More important, the very wealthiest will still be able to romp about in absolute Lucullan comfort while thumbing their noses/straight up ignoring us slobby proles in our Nissan Leaf-like machines that don’t even have the good sense to offer Corinova leather, which “celebrates the lines and creases of the animal.” Corinova’s not even an option for the likes of me and you. Exactly, according to Rolls, as it should be.

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2011 Rolls-Royce Phantom News and Reviews

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